The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for removing paint coatings from surfaces and, more particularly, to a means for incinerating/detoxifying organotin antifouling materials from ship surfaces.
Operating requirements of the current naval fleets have imposed increasing demands on ship antifouling coatings. For example, fuel conservation, high speed capabilities and extended periods between ship drydockings are naval objectives which have caused the development of newer antifouling coating systems. In the past, the salts and oxides of copper, zinc, arsenic, and mercury were commonly used as antifouling compositions. However, some of these compounds were found to cause corrosion of the metal substrate, degradation of the paint coating, and have a rapid leaching rate that results in a relatively short service life. In overcoming these drawbacks organometallic antifoulants such as tributyltin oxide and tributyltin fluoride have been developed. The organometallic antifoulants are normally incorporated into an organic matrix of materials such as natural rubbers, polyisobutylene, neoprenes, nitrile rubbers, polybutadiene, polyacrylates and epoxy resins. An advantage of these organometallic antifoulants over previous antifoulants, such as cuprous oxide type antifoulant materials, is that the organometallic materials are more toxic to sea life and thus can be utilized in coating systems with low leach rates and a long service life. However, the organometallic antifouling coatings eventually lose much of their effectiveness and need to be removed from the ship hull prior to application of another antifouling coating. Since the old antifouling materials still exhibit a high toxicity, careful removal procedures, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,252 for example, have been developed to prevent contamination of the environment. Such procedures commonly involve scraping and sandblasting the hull to remove the old coating materials, collection of the toxic abrasive grit and antifouling debris, and disposal of the debris in either selected landfills or special incinerators.